


Leaves from the Vine

by orphan_account



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Agni Kai (Avatar), Ba Sing Se, Banishment, Burns, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Child Abuse, Death, Episode: s03e14-15 The Boiling Rock, Family, Family Feels, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Iroh (Avatar) loves Tea, Leaves from the Vine (Avatar), Minor Character Death, Non-Bender Lu Ten, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Past Child Abuse, Reunions, Songfic, Zuko's Scar (Avatar)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:48:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24744079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The first leaf may have fallen far from the vine, but the second intends to come marching home.(OR: A songfic set to Leaves from the Vine of Iroh and Zuko's relationship throughout the course of the show. Don't worry about the death tags, it's only about Lu Ten)
Relationships: Iroh & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 113





	Leaves from the Vine

Iroh’s child, born on the hottest day, should’ve bent by now, but he didn't. Iroh was filled with worry as he watched Lu Ten grow, praying for some sort of spark so his son could stay, but there was none to be seen.

**_Leaves from the vine_ **

\---

Fire Lord Azulon had commanded him to be sent away. If he could not bend, he could at least fight for his nation. Iroh was taken aback. His son was only fifteen. Only fifteen and already sent off to fight in a war that wasn’t his own.

Lu Ten didn't come back. Through Winter and through Spring, through Summer and through Fall, Lu Ten still never returned home.

It was only when the letter was delivered that Iroh found out his son’s departure would be permanent.

**_Falling so slow_ **

\---

Zuko shook on his hands and knees as his father closed in on him from across the arena. Iroh watched in horror as he surrendered. Ozai didn't stop walking, his aggressive steps pounding through the room.

Ozai cupped Zuko’s face with his hand, which would appear to be a comforting gesture, if not for the circumstance.

Iroh wasn't stupid. He knew the outcome of an Agni Kai. It would end in either branding or death. He looked away, but the screams still echoed through his ears.

**_Like fragile, tiny shells_ **

\---

Iroh watched as his unconscious nephew was dragged away to the ship where he would spend his banishment, the untreated burn angry, blackened, and red on his eye it sat unbandaged. He knew he would never see him again. The terms of his exile were impossible, he wasn't supposed to come back.

He couldn’t let that happen. Although he would lose everything he had been born into, all the wealth, all the glory, all the honor, he couldn't lose any more family. 

“Wait!” he called. The two soldiers stopped where they stood.

“I’m going with him.”

**_Drifting in the foam_ **

\---

“Lee!” Iroh called from the kitchen of Pao’s tea shop. Zuko walked up and Iroh dropped the volume of his voice. “Order up for the pretty little lady at the table by the window,” he said, nodding towards the area where Jin sat. Zuko looked in her direction, then turned his attention back to Iroh, obviously taken aback. 

“Uncle-” he began, but cut himself off and settled for grumbling instead, taking the tea and beginning to walk towards the window.

**_Little soldier boy_ **

\---

Zuko sat in the war meeting, hair tightly tied into an uncomfortable topknot. His scalp ached, and he decided he’d much rather focus on that, only half listening to the plans being made. The whole room set him off. All he could think of was back to when he was thirteen.

“Zuko!” The stern voice broke him out of his thoughts. This wasn't right and he knew it, but he had to play along.

Who knows what would happen if he didn't this time.

**_Come marching home_ **

\---

Zuko attempted to kick down the lever the best that he could. The gondola was drifting further and further away, and in a panic, he wondered if he could even make it. _No,_ he thought, delivering the final blow to the switch. _I can do this._ With a running start, he leaped wildly towards the gondola, before he realized something that made his blood run cold.

He underestimated the jump. He reached his hand up, hoping to at least grip the bottom of the steel vehicle, but then he felt something tightly grip his arm. Looking up, he saw Sokka, and briefly wondered why he helped if he had already gotten what he wanted.

_Because we’re friends,_ he realized as Sokka pulled him up. Landing inside the machine, he smiled to himself. _Friends,_ he thought. _I can get used to that._

**_Brave soldier boy_ **

\---

“Uncle,” Iroh heard Zuko say from behind him. He spared a glance in his direction, but then looked away again. Zuko’s face fell. “I know you must have mixed feelings about seeing me, but I want you to know I’m so, so sorry Uncle,” he rasped, voice growing scratchier with each word. Iroh lifted his head slightly, ears perking up to listen.

“I’m so sorry and ashamed of what I did,” his voice broke. “I don’t know how to make it up to you, but I-” Zuko was cut off as he was pulled into a tight hug. Iroh couldn't listen to him cry anymore.

“How can you forgive me so easily?” Zuko questioned, voice raising. He didn't expect this response. It's certainly not what Ozai would’ve done. “I thought you would be furious with me!” Iroh tightened the hug, pulling his nephew closer than before.

“I was never angry with you,” Iroh clarified, appalled that Zuko would even think something so horrible. “I was sad, because I thought you had lost your way.”

Iroh placed his hand on the back of Zuko’s head in a comforting gesture as Zuko sank further into the hug. “I did lose my way,” he admitted. 

“But you found it again.”

**_Comes marching home._ **


End file.
